The data
Every case on SlaveryMap, drawn from public sources and shown with its location deliberately generalized to protect survivors.
631 of 1,631 cite a source · Updated
Showing 73–96 of 139
United States US
According to Washington Post, Ms. Baoanan is suing her former employers for lack of pay and 126-hour workweeks. A judge in NY has ruled that diplomatic immunity will not protect the Bajas, since the maid served in a private function and not in a diplomatic function. The case is still proceeding through the courts. www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/19/AR2009091901864.html
United States US
A Togolese woman accused of forcing girls from Africa to work in New Jersey hair braiding salons for no pay has been convicted of human trafficking and visa fraud. Prosecutors argued that Akouavi Kpade Afolabi, called "Sister" by the women she oversaw, helped bring at least 20 girls between the ages of 10 and 19 from the West African nations of Togo and Ghana on fraudulent visas to New Jersey starting in 2002. They said she manipulated the impoverished young women, who aspired to live better lives in America, and kept them in slavery-like conditions while stealing all their pay — even tips as meager as fifty cents. Afolabi's lawyer, Bukie Adetula, countered that his client was considered a benevolent mother figure and revered community leader — both in her native Togo and New Jersey. He said she was known for lending people money and aiding young women to escape their poverty-stricken homeland to learn a marketable skill in America. He spoke outside the Newark federal courtroom following a unanimous guilty verdict on all 22 counts, which was returned just hours after the jury began deliberations. During the month long trial, prosecutors outlined a scheme they say Afolabi and her ex-husband and son — who have pleaded guilty — used to keep the young women tightly controlled. They said the women were beaten, psychologically abused and, in some cases, sexually abused, while being kept from phoning home, contacting friends or family, or accessing their passports and other documents. Adetula said what the U.S. government called slave-like supervision was merely a West African custom of protecting young girls by making sure they were tightly supervised, especially in a foreign country where they didn't know the customs or the language. Afolabi, who alternated throughout the trial between western wear and traditional African dress, sat shackled at the ankles with her head bowed much of the time, listening through headphones to a simultaneous interpreter in Ewe, her native tongue. She wept often throughout the proceedings, especially during descriptions of her former husband's alleged sexual relations with several of the women, some of them underage. Has there been any intervention? How & by whom? The trafficker was arrested in 2007, brought to trial and found guilty in 2009, being kept in jail in the meantime. She is to be sentenced in January 2010 and faces up to 20 years’ imprisonment. More information: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,566464,00.html
United States US
The driver, Luis Antonio Mendoza, 26, of Fresno, Calif. The complaint alleges Mendoza told ICE agents he knew the illegal aliens were in the trailer. He further stated he was to transport the aliens to Eloy, Ariz., were they would be transferred to a different vehicle. According to the complaint, Mendoza said he thought there were only 15 people in the trailer and he expected to be paid $300 per person for transporting them. Material witnesses say they made arrangements in Nogales, Mexico, to be smuggled into the United States and were each to pay the smugglers up to $3,000, with Phoenix being their final destination.
United States US
The case information is provided through Lornet Turnbull's Seattle Times article "Pair Accused of Smuggling, Enslaving Illegal Immigrants," which was published on 11/27/09. The traffickers are Pacific couple Maria Bartola Santos-Gonzalez, 63, and Juan Gonzalez-Guerra, 55. Their son also has probable links to their operation. Between October 2006 and August 2007, the couple smuggled illegal immigrants to Pacific from Aguascalientes, Mexico for $3000-$3500 each. There are eight identified victims, including an eight-year-old girl who alleges that Gonzalez-Guerra sexually molested her, and her seven-year-old brother, who alleges that Santos-Gonzalez physically abused him. Some worked as domestic servants while others, through phony work permits, worked in jobs in construction and agriculture. Most were forced to live in a 20x25foot detached two-car garage. They were limited to two meals per day, and the refrigerator was locked in the interim. They were coerced to remain in their trafficking situation by threats: "The couple threatened to 'cut out their tongues' if they told anyone about what happened." They also "told the immigrants the police wouldn't listen to them anyway because they were undocumented."
United States US
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement A Mexican housekeeper claims a married couple paid coyotes to smuggle her into the United States, then held her captive for 6 years and put her to forced labor for more than 100 hours a week in their home. She seeks damages of $125,800 in back wages, and punitive damages for slavery.
Cambodia KH
A CAMBODIAN schoolteacher and her husband have been charged for repeatedly torturing an 11-year-old girl they bought to be their domestic helper and held captive for more than a year, a court official said on Monday. Prosecutor Heung Bunchea said Meas Neary, a high school teacher in Phnom Penh, and her husband, Va Sarouen, a retired Ministry of Education official, were charged with torture and human trafficking in Phnom Penh Municipal Court. If convicted, they could face 25 years in prison, he said. The girl's body was covered with more than 200 wounds, which were allegedly inflicted by the suspects, he said, adding: 'The couple said that they beat the girl with coat hangers, brooms, electric wires, and sometimes used pliers to pull her flesh.' The couple paid US$400 (S$557) to the girl's 62-year-old guardian in early 2008 for the girl to help with domestic chores, Mok Hong said, adding that the girl's parents were both deceased. The girl's former guardian, Thoeng Reth, was also charged with human trafficking for selling the girl to the couple.
United States US
The victim was trafficked from Guatemala to Mexico to the United States by her own half-sister. She worked for her in her home and also for a food processing plant called Fresh Del Monte Produce. She was 17.
United States US
The trafficker (Dann) arranged for the victim (Peña Canal) to travel from her native Peru to the United States in 2006 (initial contact and promises made in 2002) and enter under a fraudulently-obtained visa to serve as a nanny and housekeeper. Dann was going through a divorce at the time, was unemployed, and was not receiving child support. Once Peña Canal arrived, Dann kept her passport, forbade her from speaking with anyone outside the home, and failed to pay her for two years, although she often promised that she would. She repeatedly threatened to send Peña Canal back to Peru; and yet when Peña Canal agreed to go home, Dann told her that she would owe her $8,000 because she had only worked off $7,000 of the $15,000 worth of “expenses” that Dann had paid on her behalf. Dann eventually asked Peña Canal to sign a false statement that she had been paid minimum wage. Dann never returned Peña Canal’s passport or Peruvian identification. A police officer testified that he went to the apartment on Peña Canal’s behalf to ask for these papers. Dann was not present but called him back later. She denied having any documents, denied knowing what he was talking about, and denied having any property that belonged to PeñaCanal. In June of 2008, ICE agents searched Dann’s apartment. They found Peña Canal’s passport, her Peruvian identification card, and checks for a bank account in her name, along with the agreement that Dann had forced her to sign about minimum wage, all buried under clothing in a drawer in Dann’s room.
Sudan SD
MALWAL KON, Sudan — 607 liberated slaves returned to their homeland of northern Bahr El Ghazal, Southern Sudan between Jan. 23 and Feb. 2, 2005.They were assembled in Northern Sudanese towns and villages and transported by truck to Southern Sudan by the Government of Sudan's Committee for the Eradication of the Abduction of Women and Children (CEAWC). They were delivered to registration centers at Gok Machar and Warawar. More information: http://theseoultimes.com/ST/?url=/ST/db/read.php?idx=1462
United States US
One of them escaped. She just opened the door and ran. She wasn't wearing shoes, it was October and bitterly cold in suburban Washington, D.C.. She was frightened, "and I told myself I really give up I don’t care whatever happen with my life right now I think I’ve tried my best running away…" She called the number of a Cameroonian man who visited her slave owner's house occasionally and seemed concerned about Rose. The man picked her up hours later. Another Cameroonian man found out what was happening. He took the victim into his home. She told him there were others just like her. Eventually, The victim was reunited with her friend and other young Cameroonian girls who had been enslaved.
Canada CA
Mumtaz Ladha Age: 55 Muslim from Tanzania The Public Prosecution Service of Canada on Thursday approved one charge of human trafficking and one charge of human smuggling against Ladha. According to reports, in 2008 Mumtaz Ladha hired a 21-year-old woman from Africa, promising her a job in a hair salon and a work visa. When the woman arrived in Canada, police say, she was made to work in Ladha’s home as a maid unwillingly for 18 hours a day, seven days a week, with no salary. Mumtaz Ladha also allegedly confiscated her passport. In 2009, the woman was able to escape to a woman’s shelter where workers contacted police, prompting the RCMP Border Integrity Program’s Human Trafficking Team to launch an investigation with West Vancouver police. “This is well beyond what anyone would expect are reasonable working conditions,” said RCMP Const. Michael McLaughlin. “She was essentially a prisoner in the home.” He described a life of forced labour where the victim was often not allowed to sleep if anyone else in the house was awake and she was charged with tasks like hand washing underwear and washing visitors’ cars. “She wasn’t even allowed sufficient food. She was only allowed to eat the table scraps of what the rest of the family had eaten,” said McLaughlin. McLaughlin said that Ladha lived with other family members who were likely aware of the girl’s treatment, but that there was not enough evidence to prosecute them. The charges in the superseding indictment are merely accusations, and the defendant IS presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
United States US
Abrorkhodja Askarkhodjaev, 30, owned and operated Giant Labor, a labor-leasing company, and controlled a dozen other businesses that filed fraudulent applications for foreign workers. Askarkhodjaev and others used false IDs to create the companies and open dozens of bank accounts for them. Abror Askarkhodjaev has pleaded not guilty to the charges and intends to proceed to trial.
United States US
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested 5 South King County residents on federal charges for conspiring to enslave a 16 year-old Afghan immigrant girl. Those arrested were: Mohammed Atahee, 37 Nasima Yousufi, 70 Mohammad Yousufi, 84 Nahid Yousufi, 29 Maruf Yousufi, 42 The teen was forced to cook, clean, and do laundry for Atahee and the Yousufis, a federal grand jury indictment says. During the same period, the Yousufis required her to perform all the household chores and care for their children at 28004 33rd Ave. S., Auburn. Nahid Yousufi threatened the girl, called "JVI" in court documents, with arrest and deportation if she failed to live with Atahee or work for the Yousufis. On January 26, 2008, Atahee raped the girl, court documents say. Prosecutors accuse Nasima Yousifi and Nahid Yousifi of causing a marriage to take place between the girl - then 13 in Afghanistan and Atahee, then 33, in the summer of 2005. Because the marriage was not recognized by U.S. authorities, Nasima Yousufi allegedly told U.S. Embassy officials in Pakistan that the girl was the biological daughter of Nasima - then 66 years old - in order to obtain a visa for her. If found guilty, the defendants face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
United States US
Sarah Khonaizan and Homaidan Al-Turki brought the victim from Indonesia to cook, clean, and care for the couple's children in their home, and paid her less than $2 for her work. Al-Turki also sexually assaulted the victim. She was forced to sleep on a mattress in the basement. The victim worked seven days a week from 2000 to 2004. Al-Turki told her she would be arrested by immigration officials if she tried to leave the home. The victim was recruited to work for Khonaizan through an employment agency in Saudi Arabia in 1999. Khonaizan and her children left Saudi Arabia three months later, leaving the victim to work in relatives' homes for the next, until she joined the family again in Colorado.
United States US
Jefferson Calimlim Sr. and his wife Elnora, doctors in Milwaukee, recruited and brought the victim from the Philippines to the U.S. in 1985 when she was 19 years old. The victim was not allowed to go outside of the couple's home, communicate or socialize, and had to hide in the basement whenever non-family members were at the house. The victim was told she would be arrested and deported is she was found. The couple told the victim that her wages would be kept in an account, however she had no idea where the account was and could not access it.
United States US
Tahira Juma, a Boston University School of Public Health graduate student, and her husband Saleem Al-Khaboriof, an engineer, faced a federal lawsuit for "engaging in human trafficking and modern day slavery" in 2004. The couple came to Boston in January 2003, from their native country of Oman so that Juma could study at Boston University, according to the suit. Naseem Mohamed Siraj, who had been a member of the couple's household staff in Oman, alleged that the couple threatened to abandon her in Oman with no money to return to her family in India, where she has three children, if she didn't come with them to Boston. In Boston, Siraj was forced to care around-the-clock for four children ages 4-10 and was paid sporadic amounts totaling about $1,250 for 15 months. She had no bed and was fed only the children's leftovers, according to the suit. She was never allowed to leave the home alone and endured "a constant barrage of verbal taunts, abusive language and disobedient behavior from the children," the suit claims. When she vowed to leave, her employers "intimidated Mrs. Siraj by telling her that if she left, she would be arrested and thrown in jail."
United States US
In 2001, Elizabeth Jackson arranged to have Nena Ruiz (of the Philippines) brought to the U.S. to work as traveling companion and caretaker for Jackson's mother. After arrival, Ruiz lived with Jackson and her husband James. Jackson then confiscated the victim's passport, and used intimidation and threats of deportation to keep her from leaving. The victim was forced to work 16-18-hour days while being paid less than $400 a year. The victim, Nena Ruiz, was also forced to sleep on a dog bed in the family's living room. Elizabeth also hit the pulled the victim's hair, and hit her.
United States US
Joseph and Evelyn Djoumessi brought the victim, a 14-year old girl from Cameroon, to the U.S. in October 1996 to work against her will as a domestic servant in their home. The victim took care of the couple's children, cleaned the home, and was beaten in make sure she performed her duties. Joseph also sexually abused the victim. The victim worked for the couple until February 2000.
United States US
In the summer of 2005, Mohammad Atahee (then age 33) married a 13 year-old girl in Afghanistan and then brought her back to the US and coerced her into being a slave at homes in Federal Way and Auburn. Atahee is also accused in court documents of beating and sexually assaulting the girl at his Federal Way home. Atahee (now 37) and the Yousuf family (Nasima Yousuf, 70; Mohammad Yousuf, 84; Nahid Yousufi, 29; and Maruf Yousufi, 42) forced the teen to cook, clean and do laundry. For about 18 months beginning in August 2006, Atahee required the girl to "perform all the household chores in his home and restricted activities outside of the home" at 2511 S. 286th Place, Federal Way, WA. During the same period the Yousufis required her to perform all the household chores and care for their children at 28004 33rd Ave. S., Auburn, WA.
Uganda UG
Every Child Ministries' workers were visiting homes of a nearby area, looking for children in desperate conditions so as to seek sponsors for them to enable them to go to school and to give them a better quality life. While doing so, they heard about the terrible condition of this boy who was being treated as a slave in a nearby village. The workers visited the family and verified the story. Through a cooperative effort with local law enforcement, they were able to find a home for the boy with another relative.
United States US
George Udeozor brought the victim from Nigeria to the U.S. in 1996, when she was 14 years old. The victim was forced to care for Udeozor’s children and perform household chores until October 2001. The victim was physically and sexually assaulted while living in the Udeozor home, and was not allowed to attend school. She was brought to the U.S. on a passport that was not her own, and her family had been promised that she would be paid for her work, and allowed to attend school. She was threatened by Udeozor and his wife, and told that is she resisted she would be sent back to Nigeria.
Guinea GN
After her mother and brother died, the victim's father gave her away at age 8 to work as a domestic servant. She did housework for 18 hours a day, but she was never paid. She slept on the verandah and ate leftovers. Sometimes, she was denied food altogether. She was beaten frequently, particularly when she tried to rest. When his wife left the house, the male guardian raped her. She was not allowed to leave, but even if she was, she wouldn’t know where to go. She didn’t know if her father was still alive.
United States US
In 2004, Juan and Ellilian Ramos paid $250 for Guatemalan cousins Maria de Jesus Batres and Floridalma Sales Flores to come to the U.S. work as maids or cooks and send money back to their families. Ramos told the victims that after they had paid off their $250 debt, they would be paid $125 a week. The victims were given insufficient food and water, few breaks from work, and basically no pay. The women worked up to 21-hour days, either in the Ramos' home or an adult daycare center run by Ramos' sister, where they persuaded elderly men to live in the facility. The victims faced sexual harassment, battery, emotional, and physical abuse. They were threatened by the traffickers with threats to report the women to immigration authorities or the police.
United States US
Abdel Nasser Youssef Ibrahim and his ex-wife, Amal Ahmed Ewis-abd El Motelib were charged with forcing a 10-year-old girl to work as a domestic servant in their house in Irvine. The victim first began to work for the couple in 1999, while they still lived in Egypt. Following their move to the US in 2000, the couple arranged with her parents for the girl to be brought as well to work as a nanny and housekeeper. She was forced to work 16 hours a day as a domestic servant, helping the couple`s children get ready for school, preparing and serving food, cleaning, and doing laundry and yard work. Her passport was taken, and she was not paid for the 20 months she worked for the family. The victim was physically and verbally abused, and told she would be arrested if the police caught her outside the family's home.